4 Comments

1. 

   Just one opinion from a non-expert on March 2, 2016 at 8:04 am

   Jenny’s Journey is my favorite part of 8 Minute Millionaire. I look forward to updates from her. I’m really rooting for Jenny and I say the following with peace and love but….she is frustrating the heck out of me. I really don’t want to sound like a troll here, but the Emerlyn Vance website needs to be taken down pronto until it’s ready. I’m concerned it is damaging to the store’s reputation to have it accessible to the general public until it is completely polished.

   One example (of several) , the images are absolutely beautiful, the few clothes that are posted are cute but why on earth would you announce to your customers that you are “… Not responsible, procrastinator, mindless wanderer, etc.” Yikes! As a potential customer, this makes me want to hide my money, not give it. Is my payment information going to be safe and secure? Will I even receive the product I purchase? Will it be shipped responsibly and with care so that it’s not damaged? Will I receive it timely or will it be shipped whenever Jenny stops procrastinating sending it?

   I also looked at the Emerlyn Vance facebook page and noticed a fan had to ask where to actually purchase the clothes and the response back was cumbersome and not really clear. Perhaps the website wasn’t up yet but if so I don’t understand why you’d create a page to promote a store that isn’t accessible with clothing/pricing for purchase? And what are the store photos that are posted? Are those of an Emerlyn Vance store(s)? They seem to be 3 different styles of stores which makes me think they’re of other stores? if so, why would a Emerlyn Vance post photos of other stores on its Facebook page? Are you trying to trick customers into thinking this is a legit store? Catfishing is a thing these days, how can I trust this page isn’t some form of that to steal money? Okay, I’m sorry, I’ll just stop. I truly didn’t intend to rain down the criticism here.

   For what its worth, I think there’s a lot of value in getting feedback from people outside your circle of friends and relatives who can provide constructive criticism without fear of repercussion of potential hurt feelings and awkwardness at future get togethers. I think that should be sought out right away. Until then, I really recommend binge watching episodes of The Profit and Shark Tank for guidance and inspiration. Keep the Emerlyn Vance site only about the business and save for Jenny’s Journey on 8 Minute Millionaire or a personal journal.

   I’m truly not trying to seem like a hater, it’s only because I care so much and want Jenny to succeed that I’m writing this.

   P.S. I also consider Jenny’s business as a reflection of the mentoring provided by Justin and Tara… so….

   • 

     Kyle on March 2, 2016 at 10:27 am

     Hey! This is Kyle from 8 Minute Millionaire. I help Justin and Tara with the podcast, with marketing, website design, and other things, so I’m familiar with Jenny’s journey… and I couldn’t help chiming in here.

     You’ve given some great feedback and advice, and I wanted to say thanks for commenting! :) Don’t worry; you’re not coming across as a “troll” at all… but your comment DID get me kind of fired up, ha ha!

     So, a couple things…

     First, it’s my understanding that Jenny’s website hasn’t officially “launched” yet. Maybe Jenny can chime in if this isn’t the case, but I don’t believe it’s being actively promoted to the general public. Sure, someone can find it if they look. :) But there’s absolutely nothing wrong with having a few loose ends on a site that you’re still working on and haven’t started promoting yet.

     More importantly, you say she shouldn’t show it to the world until it’s “completely polished.” But to be honest, that’s a bad idea. Trying to have everything perfect before anyone sees it is an attitude that cripples many, many would-be entrepreneurs. Do NOT wait until you have everything polished. :) Just look at 8 Minute Millionaire… when we first launched, there was a typo in the logo, of all things! :) And plenty of other little imperfections… like the audio on the podcast, which is often very “raw.” Have those things slowed us down at all? No. But if we had tried to make everything perfect right from the start, 8 Minute Millionaire would not exist at all today… and that’s NOT an exaggeration.

     Your feedback is your opinion, as you say… but to anyone reading this, my advice is that you SHOULDN’T wait until everything is polished before putting yourself out there and showing the world. Start promoting yourself and building your audience as soon as you realistically can. Be raw. Be real. Let your audience see the journey you’re on. Let them see things in progress, let them know about the work you’re doing behind-the-scenes. Not only will this allow you to start building your business before everything is “perfect,” it will also help your audience connect with you more. :)

     As for the part about being a “procrastinator” and a “mindless wanderer” and so on, I didn’t totally understand that myself either. :) Like I said above, it’s good to share your story and be raw and real with your audience in order to build the connection with them, BUT coming right out and telling your customers that you’re “not responsible” may achieve the opposite effect. Jenny, consider taking a look at that section on your “About” page… can you rewrite the part about who you are today so it sounds less negative? :)

     Moving on to the Facebook page… the fact that she has people asking “where to buy” before the website is even finished is AWESOME. It’s not a bad thing; it’s a GOOD thing. It proves demand is building even though she’s just barely getting started.

     And I didn’t think Jenny’s reply was at all cumbersome or unclear. Could it have been better? Yes. But again, the shop hasn’t even officially launched yet, so any interaction happening now is just stoking the demand and adding fuel to the fire.

     And that is EXACTLY why it’s a very good idea to start running social media profiles and “softly” promoting Emerlyn Vance now, before the site is even finished. Starting her social media presence early is building up demand and giving her a running head start on connecting with her audience. It’s a VERY good thing. :)

     Is Jenny going to “lose” some customers who might be ready to buy right now but can’t, so they leave and don’t come back? Possibly. But if she wasn’t putting herself out there at all and was instead just keeping everything under wraps until the last minute, she would lose those customers anyway AND have zero demand and no audience. Promoting early is a much, much better approach. :)

     As for the photos of other stores on the Facebook page, I didn’t quite get that, either… Jenny, maybe all you need is to include a caption with some of those images saying things like “I love the décor of this boutique and how they showcase their products” or something like that, so people know why those pictures are there. :)

     Lastly, your point about getting feedback from others is excellent. But at the same time, getting feedback from “just anyone” is a very BAD idea. Get feedback from people who understand what you’re trying to accomplish, who have been there, ideally people who are successful entrepreneurs themselves who are familiar with the journey you’re on and who can really help you. (Also, Justin and Derrick don’t seem to be too worried about hurting Jenny’s feelings… they’ve been pretty blunt with her. :) )

     And while Shark Tank and The Profit are awesome shows, binge-watching TV for “guidance” is probably one of the WORST things Jenny could be doing right now. :) Jenny has a lot of hustling to do, and as she’s hustling, it’s important for her to get solid feedback and direction from the right people, who can look at what she’s doing and help her make progress in specific areas. Continuing to get things done and put things out there, even if she doesn’t have it all perfectly ironed out yet, is going to be much more valuable for her than watching Shark Tank, in my opinion. Nevertheless, I agree that those shows are great for inspiration! :)

     Anyway, sorry for the rant! :) I’m saying all of this out of peace and love as well, so don’t take any of this the wrong way. I wanted to show a different side to the conversation, for anyone who comes along and reads this in the future. :) Thanks again for your feedback and for taking the time to comment!

   • 

     Justin Williams on March 2, 2016 at 2:30 pm

     Wow! This is some great discussion going on! I really wish you would have put your name but since you didn’t I’ll just address you as “Just one opinion from a non expert” since that is what you referred to yourself as. BTW side note Trolls hide so if you don’t want to be perceived as one you should probably NOT hide who you are. I’m all about giving honest feedback but OWN it don’t hide from it! ;-)
     Also I wasn’t even aware that the site was live until I looked it up right now. It must have just gone live today or yesterday so that is really exciting! I actually checked it out and think it is AWESOME! And if you think I’m just saying this bc I’m her brother and am worried about what hurting feelings you must not really listen to the podcasts…Having that been said some of the feedback you gave was good. Jen, totally agree that the name is really cool and is a story you should share with the 8MM audience but may not be best to say on your home page. Just my .02 it’s your company and I respect whatever you decide. I think the best way to use that name is you seeing that you USE to be that person and you are becoming the other person. Or you could use the name in a way that shows both sides of each of us :) so that is some good feedback there.
     As far as waiting to launch totally agree with Kyle here! If it is perfect or even polished you waited too long! Get out there and just put it out there! Don’t worry about what people are going to think. There will be haters, trolls and even people who mean well and give honest feedback but just know that will happen and it’s all about putting yourself out there and taking action, failing fast, and adjusting and adapting.
     Also I love shark tank and the profit as much as the next guy and although there are some take aways to be had thinking binge watching those shows will teach you everything you need to know about starting a business is not very sound advice :) Definitely some gold nuggets but there but lots of added drama for entertainment.
     At the end of the day I know Jenny has a LOT to learn and a long way to go but I’m proud of her for putting herself out there and taking action. That is one of her biggest attributes so we want to continue to promote that :)
     Other than that I think Kyle about covered it. Proud of you too Kyle, great comments here! ;-)
     Oh and what’s up with the jab at the end?…
     “I also consider Jenny’s business as a reflection of the mentoring provided by Justin and Tara… so….”
     “I’m a really nice person and mean well but…Claw Claw…”
     Yikes! haha!
     To that comment although we are helping mentor Jenny first off it is still her life and her company. 2ndly a good mentor won’t do everything for you. You NEVER learn that way. You actually saw the site before I did which is really exciting to me bc it shows how much action Jenny is taking on here own and just going for it!
     Ok I think that’s really all now ;-)

   • 

     Jenny Williams on March 16, 2016 at 10:11 am

     Hey! Jenny here! I thought I’d chime in here even though it’s been a few days now! I’ve been so busy working on my business and never got a chance to respond to this. Thank you so much for your feedback and for being honest! I appreciate it! It’s actually really funny that you pointed out those couple things because even before you said anything or it might have even been while you were writing this, I had looked over my website and thought the same thing about writing those negative things about myself and wanted to take them down.I thought no one is going to take me seriously if I write these things about myself! I also realized that that is how I used to look at myself but not how I look at myself now. Since I’ve started this journey I’ve proven to myself that that is not who I am and that’s exactly why I wanted to take it down. So don’t worry if you order something from my website (which I highly recommend you do ;)) I will ship your item to you the day of or the day after like I always do. That same day that you wrote this actually, I was on the phone with my sister trying to figure out how to change it. It took me a couple of days because their were some setbacks with shopify but I figured it out eventually!

     And about my comment not being completely clear…yes it was because my website wasn’t launched yet which I understand was confusing but like Kyle said I wanted to get the word out there and build up momentum until my website was launched so people would be excited to check it out instead of like wait what you have a boutique?? This way they were waiting in suspense!

     I know Justin and Kyle explained this already but I’m just going to say that I agree with them completely. The reason why my website is not polished and refined is because Justin and Tara are letting me do exactly what they’ve taught me which is fail forward fast. Justin and Tara have not helped me with my boutique or website. I have done everything on my own and it is completely my work. There is no way I would have been able to learn the things I’ve learned in the past month if I hadn’t launched my website. Some one could have sat there and told me how shopify works and told me how to handle orders and inventory ect. I would have had an idea but I wouldn’t know it like I do now. I’ve learned so much just diving into it and seeing how it works as I go. I’m trying out new things and learning what works and what doesn’t. If that makes people turn away because it’s not “perfect” then I’m ok with that.

     And with the pictures of boutiques on my face book page… I was just wanting to put a pretty picture of a boutique as my back round pic. Not trying to make it seem like it was mine.There were a few different ones because I was trying to see which one I liked the best. I have seen people do that before and thought that people would realize that it wasn’t my actual boutique because I’m online. Then one of my best friends had mentioned the same thing you did. She asked if those were my store front and that I probably shouldn’t post things that aren’t mine on there because it could be confusing. After she told me that I was like oh yea you’re right so I tried taking them down but couldn’t figure it out at the time then I forgot about them. So thank you for reminding me to take them down! :)

     And for the comment about my business being a reflection on Justin and Tara’s mentoring me…you’re right it does have a reflection on them. Every good thing you see in my business is a reflection on them. But the negative things that you pointed out were not a reflection on them. Anything I mess up on is because of my own choices. I will not blame anyone for my mistakes. That is also something I learned from Justin and Tara. They taught me that I will not be successful until I take total responsibility of my own actions. There is not one day that goes by that I don’t apply the things that Justin and Tara have taught me. Something I am so great full for is that they don’t expect me to be perfect. They know I’m going to mess up. Could my business fail? Yea, a lot of businesses do. The real test will be to see if I give up or my journey or keep going. When I keep on going, that’s when you will see the reflection of Justin and Tara. ..I’m sure many of people will look at Justin and Tara and say “wow, they turned this girl who started with no hope, and was so unsure of her self, into a confident successful entrepreneur like them selves”. There is NO WAY I would have ever had the courage and confidence to start my own business if they hadn’t mentored me. The fact that I had the courage to do that was a success in itself. I owe so much to them!

     Anyway,sorry to get all sappy there for a moment but I just had to get that out there! Thank you for being so supportive of my journey and caring so much to take the time to write everything you did. Because of your comment,I know I must be doing something right! :) I know you only said all of that because you genuinely care and wanted to help. So thank you! :) And Thanks for following my journey and cheering me on!